MS-13 gang associate sentenced to 25 years in prison for role in killing of 15-year-old boy

An associate of the MS-13 street gang who pleaded guilty in September for his role in the 2016 murder of a 15-year-old boy was sentenced Tuesday to 25 years in prison by a federal judge in Central Islip. 

Eduardo Portillo, 25, who had also previously admitted his involvement in narcotics trafficking on behalf of the gang, apologized to the family of victim Javier Castillo before he was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gary R. Brown. 

“I understand I have failed and regret with all my heart the horrible things I did,” Portillo said through an interpreter as he struggled to control his emotions. “But I can still change and I can still become a good person.” 

Brown said he considered a stiffer penalty but settled on 300 months — 25 years — because letters he received from the defendant’s family convinced him that Portillo could turn his life around. Portillo's aunt and cousin attended the hearing but declined to speak to reporters. 

“You get a chance to have a life,” Brown said. “Your victim doesn’t. I hope you consider that.” 

Castillo’s family did not attend the hearing. 

Portillo’s attorney, Matthew Brissenden of Garden City, declined to comment on the sentence. He told Brown that Portillo had come from a loving but impoverished family in El Salvador that borrowed money to help the defendant come to the United States in search of a better life. Portillo, then 16 years old, lived with his godparents in Central Islip. But Portillo suffered an “identity crisis” when he learned that his father was not his biological dad. 

Portillo slept in clothing donation bins, “living like a stray dog” for a period of time, Brissenden said. He eventually met MS-13 members who helped him get a job and an apartment. 

“Mr. Portillo was attracted to both the sense of power projected by the gang members, and to the feeling of belonging which came through his association with them,” Brissenden wrote in court papers. 

Portillo, also known as “Firuli” and “Tito,” also pleaded guilty to two counts of racketeering on Sept. 23. Prosecutors said Portillo participated in the murder of Castillo — described by prosecutors as Portillo’s friend — because he wished to join MS-13. 

The gang targeted Castillo, according to the government, because they believed he was a member of the rival 18th Street Gang.

Portillo and other gang members drove Castillo from Brentwood to Freeport to smoke marijuana, according to prosecutors. They then lured the victim to an isolated marsh in Cow Meadow Park, where they hacked him to death with a machete. The gang members buried Castillo’s body in the park, where it was found by authorities more than a year later, in October 2017.

Portillo was removed from the United States in March 2018 and arrested in Morazán, El Salvador, in February 2019. He was extradited to this country in November 2020. 

Federal prosecutors said in November 2020 that they are seeking the death penalty for brothers Jairo Saenz and Alexi Saenz, who have been linked to the Castillo slaying and other killings, including the 2016 murders of Brentwood High School students Nisa Mickens and Kayla Cuevas. 

Another MS-13 member, Ruendy Jhonatan Hernandez-Vasquez, pleaded guilty to Castillo’s murder and other crimes in April. An indictment was also unsealed this week charging former juvenile defendant Kevin Cuevas del Cid in the slaying.